Do you need to remove the uterus for cervical cancer?

  Currently, among all gynecologic malignancies, cervical cancer is the only one with a clear etiology: it is associated with persistent infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV). Therefore, the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer is more effectively carried out. In the case of Shanghai region, after more than 30 years of universal screening and treatment, the incidence of cervical cancer has decreased significantly, having dropped to 10% in the 1970s. However, it is worth noting that although the overall incidence rate has decreased, there is a slight upward trend after 2000, and the problem of younger incidence is becoming more pronounced.  In 1898, Dr. Wertheim demonstrated transabdominal extensive hysterectomy at the Vienna Medical Society and successfully cleared the pelvic lymph nodes for the first time, which became the classical extensive hysterectomy for cervical cancer, but there were defects that the operation was more extensive and had more surgical complications. The radioactive element radium began to be applied to the treatment of malignant tumors in the 1920s and 1930s, and was first applied to the postoperative treatment of cervical cancer, and radiation therapy gradually became the main means of treating cervical cancer. Until the 1950s, with the development of anesthesia techniques, the application of antibiotics, and the gradual development of means to control infection and bacteria, surgery again became the most important means of treating cervical cancer.  It takes at least 10 years from the time of HPV infection to the development of invasive cervical cancer. In the 1940s, Dr. Papanicolaou in the United States discovered that cervical pre-cancer cell morphology had changed and found that both early cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions could be explored, thus starting a cervical cancer screening program. With the advancement of screening technology and the expansion of population coverage, the early diagnosis rate of cervical cancer patients is getting higher and the proportion of patients who are eligible for surgery has increased significantly, making cervical cancer surgery the “focus” of treatment. In the past, “the more extensive the better”, but nowadays, “the more delicate the better” is required. Patients who have the conditions can try to preserve the uterine body and the reproductive function, and those who cannot preserve the reproductive function can also preserve the pelvic nerve, which is beneficial to the patient’s future defecation, urinary function and cardiac function. This will have a greater benefit to the patient’s future defecation, urinary function and cardiac function. In recent years, cervical cancer has also started to be minimally invasive, opening up new procedures, such as laparoscopic surgery and robotic surgery. In radiotherapy, the combination of internal and external irradiation used to be used in the past, but now there is a gradual transition to precise radiotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy, which can “target” the lesion more precisely, significantly reducing the complications caused by radiotherapy and improving the efficacy. In terms of chemotherapy, the main chemotherapeutic drug for cervical cancer in the last century was cisplatin, which was relatively single, but now there are many choices of chemotherapeutic drugs for advanced cervical cancer, as well as the emergence of some targeted drugs, so that patients with cervical cancer who cannot undergo surgery or radiotherapy have more choices.  Theoretically, patients with earlier stage cervical cancer are suitable for surgery, but we also need to consider the physical condition of the patient, some older and weaker patients with early stage cervical cancer are not suitable for surgery. Radiotherapy can be administered. Radiotherapy is the main treatment for cervical cancer patients, while chemotherapy is the main treatment for cervical cancer patients with recurrent metastases.  Radical hysterectomy is an innovative procedure that preserves the reproductive function of young cervical cancer patients without compromising the outcome of cervical cancer treatment. Such a procedure was pioneered by France in the 1990s, and the Cancer Hospital of Fudan University started to perform this procedure in 2003 and has completed 126 cases so far. Unlike traditional cervical cancer surgery, this procedure does not require the removal of the entire uterus, but rather the removal of the diseased cervical tissue and its associated parametrial tissue, the upper vagina, and the suturing of the preserved uterine body to the vagina. This procedure allows for a satisfactory cure of cervical cancer while preserving the patient’s uterus. The patient will gradually resume her menstrual cycle after the procedure and will still be able to conceive and have children. It is important to note that this procedure requires strict selection of patients according to the indications, considerable surgical experience of the surgeon, and the support of a high level of preoperative diagnostic imaging and intraoperative pathological rapid cryo-diagnostic techniques. Generally, young patients with tumors up to 4 cm in size and with localized lesions to the cervix and no lymphatic metastases can undergo fertility preservation surgery.